Violence Is All In Your Head

Recently the Democratic party has selected who will run for mayor of NYC in this year’s election. Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was chosen after Andrew Cuomo conceded earlier this week. Zohran will likely be the next mayor elected this November as NYC has only had two republican mayors since 1946! What is very unique about this candidate is his radical socialist views. I want to look at one of his claims that he made at a rally recently in comparison to the christian worldview.

At a recent rally, Zohran stated how he wants to empty out the jails and restructure the entire criminal justice system in NYC. One of his arguments for this is the use of the word “violent” or “violence” when someone is charged. He said, ““Oftentimes, we’ve even found as legislators, when we go into these courts, the term violent crime is even used when people are stealing packages…violent crime is even used when people are accused of burglary and there happens to be a housing unit in that same dwelling. So violence is an artificial construction. We have to be very clear that what is happening here with these district attorneys, that is violence, that is violence at the highest degree.”

Now before even getting to his claims in light of what the bible teaches, let us look at just this very paragraph. He contradicted himself without even knowing it. He claims that violence is a social construct, i.e. something that we make up as a society. That it is created out of thin air by legislators. And he is painting it as a very bad thing to do this. That is because it’s not real but something made up. Violence is not a real thing, just something we made up to detain people.  Yet he claims the district attorney is being violent with their prosecution! Wait…didn’t he just socially construct the term “violence”? Didn’t he just redefine what violence is? Isn’t he committing the very thing he is condemning?  

His hypocrisy was displayed even more so when news came out that more security was required for him after winning the nomination. When he won the Democratic candidacy, he received death threats prompting the NYC police department to beef up security. But wait a minute, if violence is just a social construct we create and not a real thing, why would he need to bother with security at all? it is not real? He shouldn’t feel threatened at all. He contradicted himself again when he said on a recent news show, "I have developed a proposal, for the Department of Community Safety, that would include an 800% increase in funding for hate crime prevention programs." Hold on a second…if violence is just what we have created and doesn’t really exist, how could there possibly be hate crimes? According to him the only violence there is, is the “violent” prosecutions of the district attorneys.

Just this candidate's hypocrisy is enough to not support him. There is a lot the bible has to say about avoiding people that are hypocritical. Jesus said that a house divided can not stand. And neither can a person who is divided in their own heart. This is the world we live in. This is an example of living out the modern philosophies of our day. We do not believe God exists and so we are gods ourselves. Because of this we make up the rules as we go. So we think terms like evil and violence are just man made phrases that are used to pick on certain people in our civilization. But what is even more surprising is that Zohran is not even an atheist or a secularist. He is a Muslim. And their religion believes there is right and wrong based on their god and their scripture writings. They don’t believe that violence is a social construct.

But what does the bible say about his theory? Is violence something we make up? Not at all! The bible is very clear that there is evil in the world. That we as humans are evil at heart. And due to this, it will lead some to violence. Jesus taught us, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:21-23) This violence is wrong, evil, sinful and to be punished by the government. And if the person doesn’t seek forgiveness, God will punish them as well. The second sin recorded in the bible was a violent act condemned and punished by God. When Cain killed Abel, God was displeased and cursed him for the rest of his life. The law of God was not even written yet and we see that violence is real and not to be tolerated but punished. This is why in the Old Testament law murder, rape, kidnapping, physically attacking your parents and sacrificing your child are all viewed as sinful, evil and punishable  by death. The Psalmist tells us that, “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” (Psalm 11:5) And then don’t forget that when Peter tried to violently defend Jesus when He was being arrested, Jesus told him to put his sword away. No, violence is not a social construct. It is a real thing from within us that is sinful, evil and to be disciplined. Now are there righteous acts of violence? Yes. But this is not what Zohran is talking about. He is talking about things that would send someone to prison. Not war or self defense which are violent but not necessarily wrong.

Is it possible that societies redefine terms for pushing their own agendas? Absolutely! We see that today with the redefinition of marriage. But that doesn’t mean the thing in and of itself doesn’t exist at all. Just because we have redefined marriage, doesn’t mean marriage is just a social construct and should be done away with altogether. Zohran makes it seem like violence only exists because humans invented it and defined it. But we don’t need to scrap it completely. Instead we need to go back to its truthful definition. Its godly definition.  This is the problem when you do not use God’s word to set the standard. The moral compass gets turned all around and we don’t know which way is up. People end up fighting over what everything should mean.  This is why we look to God and His definitions of social terms and moral standards. Because He is THE TRUTH. And unless we go by His definitions, we will be living in a lie.